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Planting delays could shrink winter wheat acres even more

U.S. wheat acres could shrink even more as wet weather slows the seeding of the winter crop.

National Association of Wheat Growers president Ben Scholz, who farms in northeast Texas, tells Brownfield his part of the state has had quite a bit of rain the past month.

“I’m actually held out of the field with about only 50 percent of my wheat planted. I’m going to say my neighbors are less than that.”

Nationally, winter wheat planting is running close to normal.  But Scholz says a wet pattern has also dogged parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, up to Missouri and even Minnesota.

“In visiting with some of the leadership within our national organization, even up in Minnesota, they’ve reached the end of their winter wheat planting period. My contact there did not actually get to plant all the wheat he intended to plant.”

He acknowledges even with more favorable planting conditions wheat has been on the decline for a while as competing crops displace acres.  In his part of the country Scholz says cotton has become more of a competitor.  Elsewhere, he points to corn and soybeans offering better returns.

The USDA forecasts winter wheat acreage at just over 31 million, which would be the lowest since 1909.